Kenting
trashy paradise
13.08.2007
The whole point of this trip was to go for a SCUBA. Since Kenting was billed as a main tourist area, I thought it would be easy to find a PADI place, that information would be readily available, and that I would be able to find a nice, clean beach, and move around easily.
I was way off.
It was easy to get TO, but not AROUND. I found a cheap hotel, and set out to find a beach towel, the Internet, and a dive shop. In a beach town, I found ONE dive shop in the entire town. One. And assuming you had your own equipment (I do not), the price was reasonable. To rent theirs, it cost an extra $100. Disappointed, I resigned myself to just lying on the beach. Tough break, I guess.
I ran into my friend and his girlfriend, and it was nice to see a familiar face.
The next two days I stayed in the area and found a small beach close to my hotel. Unless you have your own transportation, you can't get around anywhere outside of Kenting. The beach I found nearby was empty while the sun was out and had nice umbrellas with chairs set up. The water was also surprisingly clean and clear, considering that the beach was full of trash and smelled awful.
My last day I rented a scooter. That opened up a whole new world to me. I ran into my friend and his gf, and we went up and down the coast looking for a new beach. They found one, and I decided to keep on my own. I went past the point (of no return? no, but close!) that I had been earlier in the day to the east and ended up seeing some pretty amazing coastline.
Fishermen
The cliffs at one stopping point
More cliffs/dunes
A small inlet where there were people kayaking
A nice bridge that cost $10NT to cross (about 20 cents)
If I hadn't been able to rent a scooter and see this nice area off the coast, I would have said that Kenting was a bust. It was until that point. It must just be that the area doesn't really have a lot of resources for the tourist industry. I was expecting more...more information, more communication, more transportation, etc. I was also hoping to find a nice beach, but none were found.
The next day, I went back to Taipei via Kaohsiung, where I met a nice Canadian girl in my hostel.
Overall thoughts on Taiwan: I kept hoping that it would magically turn into Vietnam, then when I learned that it never would, I had a better time. I came home with some interesting little trinkets, a bit of a sunburn, and the need to vacation after vacation.
So for those of you who continued to read about Taiwan, through the shoddy reports, thanks and I hope you enjoyed yourselves!
Posted by lrbergen 22:54 Archived in Taiwan Comments (0)